Reflections on an exciting year

I just read an amazing post by my friend, you can read it here I am an adventurer. Bravo to living and following dreams! And she is right, you are not too fat, too old, nor too poor to follow them. I am sitting here jamming with my wireless headset, listening to Albanian music and remembering. Remembering this summer when I threw caution and bank book to the wind and flew to Pristina, Kosovo (Albanian - Prishtinë, Kosova or Kosovë) in Europe to marry my sweetheart. We had met online the beginning of the year, and as crazy as it sounds, I didn't care, because we knew we were for each other.

I was nervous....my first flight outside the USA, and a 15 hour flight with 3 hops and 4 airports. Chicago > Brussels > Budapest > Prishtina, and I only speak English. My fears were unfounded though, because all I needed to do was follow the "Transfer" signs. Everyone in the service industry speaks English and umpteen other languages. Announcements were always in three languages including English. Finally the long flight was behind me and there he was, standing in the doorway of the airport. The rest is history, our story.

We spent a wonderful 6 weeks together. We walked all over Prishtina (because his car broke down forever on day 3). We drank coffee together in coffee shops (they are all over Prishtina) and shared stories about our life experiences. We walked along Mother Theresa Boulevard at night and listened to live bands. We walked all the way down to the statue of Skanderbeg. We shopped together and cooked together and chatted with family (even though I only know maybe 5 words in Albanian). We got married at the Municipality in Prishtina. Then we went by tour bus to Albania. We swam in the Adriatic Sea. We walked under night skies so dark I could see the Milky Way. We bruised our feet on rocky back roads in Velipoja and sat on the balcony of our room to catch the cool night air. We came back to Kosovo and time was coming to a close. Leaving was hard, so hard. But I had all the documents to bring to the immigration lawyer. I left with bags stuffed to the gills with gifts, clothes, a cup and saucer set from Turkey, a gjezve from Slovenia for making coffee, and a tepsija (pan for baking burek), and my hubby's Albanian-English dictionary.

Me in front of the statue of the great Albanian warrior, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg (Albanian - Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu)

My Adventurer friend often speaks of dancing like no one is watching. I did, and I am. Literally, my heart is dancing, and I grab my little weights and and I dance to one my favorite Alban Skenderaj songs  It's a great workout song. I pick up a few more Albanian words and surprise hubby. And then I get back to work, so I can afford to bring my hubby to me.

 Coffee set, tiny spoons, bag of finely ground coffee and a gjezve for cooking it

 Tepsija - this is a very small one! But it had to fit in my luggage LOL

 Napkins from places where we ate and food labels. I love Jeta burgers! I don't know what they put on them but I order them with everything. I love burek, too, and mantia me mish, and it's a yogurt-lover's paradise over there! Lots and lots of yogurt, all kinds and flavors. And Dannon, too LOL!!

 Yummy so sinfully yummy almond sugar cookies drenched in syrup

Kosovo has very good spring water!

Gifts from my new family. I used the cam on my laptop to take the picture. You can see it reflected in the glass.

Diten e mir

Mystery Solved

I always wondered about this tapestry. I've had it for years, not sure how I aquired it, but it must have been from a yard sale. I couldn't figure out where it was from, until I was watching TV in Kosovo with my new hubby. Wait----I have that pattern. "What?" See, the covering on the lecturn in front of that speaker! I have that pattern on a weaving at home! I think. So when I came home (sadly leaving hubby behind while we jump through the immigration hoops) I took some pictures. Hubby said yes, it is handmade Albanian! Pictures on the internet showed some weavings with the exact same black border, sort of a stepped zigzag.

And here is a close-up

I knew it was special, I just didn't know why LOL!

My Turtle / Tortoise Collection

The group of three at the bottom right were my first. They are made of ceramic and were bought in the 1960's out in California. I have since seen the same set made of plastic. The one in the middle on top of the round rock is carved from stone with a streak of Opal in it. That one is a gift from my SIL in Australia. The funky light blue one and the small dark red and black one behind the rock are made with that plastic clay you bake in the oven. I made them. The others were collected at various times over the years.

Friendship

I love these stamps that are on a letter from my friend. Click on the picture to see full size.

B-day

My daughter and her bf took me and my other daughter to dinner at Don Pablo's for my B-day. We had a lot of fun!

It was a set-up! The waitress stuck this on my head. And I had two mango margaritas.

Breezy day

Today is breezy, cooler and drier. It only sprinkled a little. I actually got clothes to dry on the line! The house is open, the air is fresh for a change. It is quiet, except for the ever-present noise of the traffic. A good day for reading and for thinking. I almost tackled rearranging the living room, but decided nothing will move right until I get rid of this 55 gallon fish tank. So I did some reading. And some thinking and daydreaming. Daydreaming is good, didn't you know? Well, I spoke too soon. It's sprinkling.

Just another day....

But I do remember my dad, and my past hubby, the father of my girls, and honor them. Happy Father's Day!

Brighter Future

Yesterday I posted a link to some sad history. Today I have a link to a tourism website that is promoting Kosovo's brighter future. They have some good info, and nice pictures in the Gallery. You can find them on facebook, too.

Be In Kosovo

Important History

I have a dear friend in Europe, in Kosovo to be exact. Spelled Kosova to the locals. I have learned a lot about this new country. Many people may not know or remember much of what happened. My friend watched the NATO bombing of the Serb bases around the capital city, Pristina, spelled Prishtina and Prishtinë by the locals. My friend told me, it was a dirty war. The Serbs were killing civilians. It's true, and documented. I cry when I watch this series of videos published by the New York Times. Please take the time to watch it, and remember, just like we must always remember the Holocaust.
Endgame in Kosovo

Next post will be something happier.

Crazy spring

Cold...Hot...Cold...Hot...Cold. Had the furnace on, then the A/C, then A/C off and closed house, pile on blankets to sleep.....not turning furnace back on!!! Between the heat and the cold we had wild storms, flash KABOOM all night long, lots of rain and threat of floods for people near the rivers. Today is sunny, at least. I planted 3 tomato plants this spring. That's it. I have some perennial flowers blooming but I didn't buy annuals....yet. Maybe I should. Or at least more perennials.

A BEAUTIFUL Day at last!!!

Finally gorgeous weather! Fresh air, sunshine >>no rain<< YAY not humid, shall I go on?  They finally installed spring! After we bumped into summer and stumbled back into winter "forEVER".

Summer by Monday?

We are still waiting for spring. I did get my tomatoes planted. But today is a cloudy, windy 42 degrees right now. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Had to turn the furnace back on. By Monday I might need the A/C! LOL

Where is Spring?

I hope you can read this ok. Someone posted it on facebook. I was ROFLMAO when I saw it. I copied it into my graphics software and added the identical text. Click on it, see if you can read it ok. LOL LOL!! We are still getting 404 errors here. hahahahahaha

Easter Dinner

This post is a little late. We had a great time, good food. My camera did an absolutely horrible job. It's the one on my new phone. Maybe I need to fiddle with the settings. Or maybe the problem is that I did fiddle with them. Anyway, here's a really bad picture, taken by my younger daughter. I took one of her but it came out too blurry. To make matters worse, my blouse was wrinkled. Geez like I couldn't have looked down and straightened it out. Well, I was having too much fun. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Left to right, daughter's bf, me and daughter

Daughter's bf cooked dinner. It was yummy. He's an engineer and he showed us lots of 3D drawings and finished projects he's done.

Happy Easter!

It's a beautiful spring day. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and the sun was shining brightly but now there are thin clouds. Younger daughter and I will be joining older daughter and bf for a cookout this afternoon, in Hebron. I was wished Happy Easter by my friend in Europe :-)

Spring

Looks like spring is trying hard to be here. I heard a Robin the other day. We had some rain with thunder and lightening. Life is good.

Warm!

My kitties know how to stay warm

Nicer than snow and cold

I love my turtle collection. Right now most of them are packed away because I thought we were moving. I actually have at least one more not shown in this picture. I started out with the three ceramic ones (three different sizes, all facing each other, just to the right of the powder blue one in front). My parents bought them for me from a gift shop out in southern California somewhere, maybe in Blythe. We kept desert tortoises as pets when we lived in the desert. They were only ones we found covered in mud after heavy rains. Never just walk over and pick up a desert tortoise. It frightens them and compromises their health.

Snowplows!! Finally!!

Yay!! We are plowed out at last. Well, I probably have a ridge of snow along the car now. Too much snow. Melt, dammit!

Dug out at last

I got to the store today, the shelves haven't been restocked yet but I found most of what I needed. My street is horrible! I guess because none of us have driveways so we can't park anywhere else. Well, we have an alley, but it's SNOWED IN. So all that was done was a couple passes with a pickup truck with a plow on front. The ruts are deep. Cars get stuck in many places but my trusty Hyundai seems to do well considering it is a car. All the streets in my area are one-way because they are narrow. So coming home I saw a homemade sign on a stick, stuck in a heap of snow at the end of my street. It said 4 x 4 only or you'll get stuck!

Friday---STILL snowed in

A few of my neighbors have dug out, but I still have a mountain of snow between may car and the plowed area down the middle of the street. I hope I get dug out before the milk spoils.

Snow! And tons of it

We had a big snowstorm come through last night, and a pile of Lake effect snow this morning. Here are some pictures.

Out my front door. It's 9AM and no plows in sight

Looking toward the expressway. I could tell it was open because I heard the plows banging all night, and the traffic rumbling all day

About 11 AM the Lake Effect snow hit and dumped another 5 or 6 inches



The cool drift out my front door tonight, before my daughter shoveled. Still no snow plows.

Just one of the huge drifts that coverd the fence

Drifts along the fence on the north side

The front shoveled. See that big blocky looking part on the left? That's 28 inches high. I just measured it.

Still no plows. There is a 4 foot pile of snow all around my car. When the plows do come by someday, the pile will be taller.

365 project

I am going to abandon this for myself, at least for now. Too much going on and not much I want to take pictures of. I work a lot---at the computer, on my budget, on paying my bills and saving, and then on cleaning. I have piles of boxes of stuff to sell, donate or trash, all in a house that has several incomplete remodeling jobs. Dad just had too much arthritis and then the cancer---couldn't finish what he started. Once work begins to progress I'll post some pictures. As for the 365 project, if I am following you, I'll continue to follow. I think it's great, but it's just not fitting into my overloaded life right now.

Odd glass

Winter blahs. And it's only January. I'm barely inspired to keep up with the 365 project. But I did come across something interesting while cleaning my window shelves. I have a lovely small vase that my daughter bought for me several years ago in Indianapolis. I just love the soft purple. Here is a picture of it next to a sunny window. It's the purple vase on the left. In case you are wondering, this is a picture of my Senk's Anemone African Violet.

When I took the vase off the shelf and walked into the kitchen I freaked out because I noticed it was blue. No matter what light I held it under, it was BLUE!! But the antique stopper I had placed on top, which my grandpa found in the desert probably 60 years ago was still purple! So it couldn't be the lighting, could it? I couldn't figure out what happened. Did the sunshine cause the purple to fade? It was just a really boring pale blue. How sad!!! Here it is all blue, with the purple stopper and next to a purple ink well.

After cleaning up the shelf I went about putting everything back, including my now blue vase. Wait...what??? It's purple again!!! It's nighttime, but even on the dark shelf I can see it's purple again. Ok, this is odd. So I go back to the kitchen, it's blue again, back to the window, it's purple. Hmmm---fluorescent lighting? So I turned on an incandescent (yeah, I still have one), and behold---it turned bright PINK!

So---I wonder what kind of mineral they added to the glass that makes it purple in daylight, blue under fluorescent and pink under incandescent?? That is just too cool. Now I love my vase even more! It's like "magic"!

3:365 and 4:365

Yesterday was one of "those days". I felt sad. I did post a picture on the 365 project website, though. This says it all...what I need to do:

Today is a better day, even though I didn't get a lot done. My wrist is bothering me, so I'm taking it easy. Had a nice phone conversation with my daughter---all the plans we have. We need to put the house back to three bedrooms if I plan to sell it. That means loosing my big kitchen because the washer and dryer need to go back in what used to be the utility room, which is now part of my big kitchen. Maybe we can put a wall back up. Then I need to get 220 installed. If I sell without the upgrade then it will come out of the final selling price, and I'm sure they will pick a higher price than if I have it done. A lot of the other stuff is cosmetic. I think a big garage sale is in order for this spring. Part of the organize and declutter project involves clearing out a lot of stuff. I have 41 years of stuff, and I still have some of my mom's stuff and my daughter's stuff . Too much stuff!!!! And this house is a postage stamp sized 890 sq. feet with no basement. But the heating bill is really cheap!!


Anyway, here is today's 4:365 picture. Macey was fast asleep on the chair, and then Murry hopped up and sat down right on top of her. Murry is 20 pounds! I grabbed the camera, but by the time I got there he had laid down, still sort of on top of her. Poor Macey!

2:365

Today's picture just happened to end up in this week's theme. I didn't plan it that way, but after I uploaded it I noticed the theme-blue thing and went ahead and added it. This is sort of a place-mat sized piece of art that I would NOT use as a placemat! Instead it hangs on the wall. My daughter and her husband brought a bunch of them (all different) to give away to all of us. Dad liked the blue one, so that's the one I have.

Welcome to the Country Dance - Authentic Aboriginal Art

1:365 LED flower lights

I took interest in the 365 project but I'm hard pressed to find something to take a picture of. So I decided on my new LED lights. They are a small string of 20 flowers, battery opperated. I just love LED lights. These change colors, so here are three pictures in sequence. I might add that my camera refuses to focus on them.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy new year. 2010 certainly had its ups and downs for a lot of people, not just me. Here's hoping 2011 is much better. The Chinese calendar says this is the year of the Metal Rabbit, which is the opposite of the Tiger, which was last year. Here are some quotes sent to me in an email, taken from an Astrology website, so they aren't my words, but they sound good to me!

The year of the Metal Rabbit promises to bring some much-needed peace and tranquility. If you are like most people, you probably feel like you were on a roller coaster in 2010, the year of the Tiger. That will generally not be the case in 2011, as the Rabbit is everything the Tiger is not.

"Let there be peace -- and let it begin with me" is the Rabbit motto. The Tiger makes waves, but the Rabbit mends fences.

What to do in a peaceful year? Education, for one. Leisurely travel is encouraged. Pursuing your hobbies is a very Rabbit thing to do and will bring you many happy moments.

In the spirit of the Rabbit, peace be with you in 2011.